It’s no secret that where arts funding is concerned there’s a gulf between London and the rest of England. But our exclusive infographic, mapping Arts Council England’s grants for 2010-11, still makes for sobering viewing.
The graphic shows how London dominates in the allocation of grants, receiving more than all the other regions combined.
Arts Council England’s regional grants 2010/11. Infographic by Edward Randell
Arts Council England (ACE) supports work across the arts, encompassing music, literature and visual arts as well as performance. Its funding is crucial to many of the UK’s most prestigious theatre institutions and companies, including the Royal Shakespeare Company, Opera North, Southbank Centre and Punchdrunk. Although London’s West End is renowned as the heart of commercial theatre in the UK, it is also home to a huge amount of subsidised theatre – a fact reflected in the ACE figures.
Details of the grants, and how they were divided between ACE’s regional offices, were released as part of the funding body’s annual review for 2011, published on 26 April. More than £427m of public money was awarded overall, including £58.7m on national projects (not shown in the graphic). This represents a 2% increase on 2009/10, although ACE’s overall spending decreased by 6% (from £625m to £588m)
For 2011/12, the majority of regular ACE beneficiaries face an 8.7% spending cut, with government arts funding set to continue falling over the next three years.
How are ACE’s cuts affecting you? And do you think too much is spent on London?
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